Enzyme Developer: Upgrade your hair color from hydrogen peroxide!

Stemming in nature, rooted in science

Your hair color just got upgraded.

Nature’s solution to harsh peroxide-based color services of yester - year. 

OUR COLOR DIVORCE AND HOW WE HEALED....

The Divorce:

We’ve cut bait. Our team now combines our incredible Zero Ammonia/PPD/Recorcinal and MEA color with Enzyme developers, rather than Hydrogen Peroxide due to the potential damaging effects for vulnerable hair and scalp health.

Why We Did It: HARMFUL CHEMICALS AND SIDE EFFECTS

Hair color is made up of two components: color and developer. The developer contains hydrogen peroxide and ammonia to modify the molecular structure of the hair shaft, allowing large color molecules to penetrate while phenylenediamine (PPD) allows the color to bond with the hair. It is now known that some permanent hair dyes may also contain coal tar, a potentially detrimental petrochemical, and toxic metals such as lead or mercury as developers.

Researchers at The University of California discovered that individuals coloring their hair with permanent dyes once a month for a year or more have twice the risk of developing bladder cancer. Hairdressers or barbers in contact with hair dyes had five times the risk.  We are against fear mongering, but we fully are dedicated to knowledge and better choices. 

What’s Next: Our New Love!

We’ve seen incredible results with our recent switch. Enzyme developers are naturally formed proteins that neutralize the hair and leave it in superior condition. Continued use of this product, combined with our naturally zero ammonia color and home care products, will restore your hair to its original shine and luster.

You probably have a lot of questions: What is it? What does it do? Well, up until now, your traditional developer used hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide swells the cuticles of the hair until it bursts leaving visible and unwanted hair damage.

Enzyme Results:

•  Natural

• Ammonia Free

•  Complete Color

•  No Peroxide

•  All natural Plant Enzymes

• PH Balancing

Enzyme developer can do everything peroxide developers can do, plus more!

Here are the friends-with-benefits that lead to our split:

•  Enzymes are a safer and more controlled way of inserting the dye into the hair shaft

•  Instead of creating the damage in depositing and or lifting color, your hair is left healthy, shiny and silky

•  Safe and mild for overall scalp health

•  Color will be brighter and rich to it’s true tone. NO OXIDATION = NO FADING!

•  Takes less time

• Allergy Friendly

Why doesn’t every salon divorce hydrogen peroxide?

It’s all about the money, honey! Our ethos is to keep you and your follicles healthy. That’s how we get real results. Yes, this does raise our overall costs for color a smidge, but aligned with our mission and big picture view of health and beauty - it’s worth it!  We hope you see it this way, too.

All color pricing will increase by $3.  Please speak with your stylist with any questions or concerns.  

If you prefer to use hydrogen peroxide, please let your stylist know and we will revert back to old systems for your needs.  

Contact us today!  612.824.7611

Spring Kidney Cleansing Smoothie and Juice Recipes!

Hello Informed Beauty - I truly believe the winter curse has broken!  It's perfect time to hit the reset button in our internal + external beauty regime.  Check out these GREAT SMOOTHIES that help to clear and support your oh-so-important  kidneys.  

Being that our kidneys are an important detoxification organ, it’s important that we learn to nourish them with the right foods. There are many beneficial herbs and foods we can include to support kidney health, and what better way to cleanse and support our kidneys than by juicing!

Here are 6 simple and delicious juice recipes that will help support the health of your kidneys and provide mild diuretic properties to help flush the kidneys of unwanted wastes.

Let’s get juicing…

Watermelon Flush

• 4 cups fresh watermelon, roughly chopped

• Handful of fresh basil leaves

*Note: This recipes works well in a juicer or blender.

Parsley Purifier

• ½ cup fresh parsley

• 2 celery ribs

• 1 carrot

• 1 cucumber

Dandy-love

• 3 dandelion leaves

• 1/2 green apple

• 2 celery stalks

• 1/2 lemon

• Chunk of broccoli stalk

Radiant-Radish

• 2 cups radishes, chopped

• 1 celery rib

• 1 cucumber

• 1/2 lemon

Mean & Green

• Handful of spinach

• Handful of kale

• 1/2 green apple

• 1/2 lemon

• 1-inch piece fresh ginger

• ½ cup fresh parsley

Cruciferous Goodness

• 1/2 head red cabbage

• 1/2 lemon

• 1 cucumber

• Chunk of broccoli stalk

• ¼ cup fresh cilantro

All these recipes can be pressed through your juicer and enjoyed any time of day to cleanse and rejuvenate your kidneys and support overall health.

Thank you Guest Post: Young and Raw - http://www.youngandraw.com/6-kidney-cleansing-juice-recipes/

Is your hair thinning? Thyroid Function - look no further!

 Our team views our guests  multi-dimensionally.  Through the focal point of functional medicine and beauty - Justin (guest post) brings light to how your thyroid may be the first place to look if you are experiencing hair loss.

Below are only a few symptoms of low thyroid function (hypothyroidism):

• Thinning hair (most common)

• Fatigue

• Weight gain

• Constipation

• Depression

Thinning hair or hair loss is a hallmark sign for low thyroid function.

The hair follicle requires thyroid hormone to produce hair. As thyroid function begins to lower due to stress or an autoimmune condition, it’s possible to see negative changes in your hair quality and or amount. It’s also possible to see hair come off in clumps from your scalp or just see a thinning of the outer third of your eye brows.

Auto-immune hypothyroid patients (Hashimotos) are known to suffer from alopecia or hair loss (1, 2).  There is a higher chance of having allopecia or hair loss if you have a hypothyroid condition.

The systemic inflammation underlying most thyroid conditions can be a driving factor of hair loss by decreasing thyroid hormone. Chronic stress will cause in increase in Reverse T3 which has an effect of decreasing active thyroid hormone at the receptor site level. Reverse T3 can also decrease thyroid conversion from T4 (Inactive) to T3 (Active) (3).

Reverse t3 appeared to inhibit the conversion of t4 to T3 with a potency which is about 100 times more than propylthiouracil (4).

Reverse T3 has also been show to to be an excellent indicator for thyroid function even though it’s ignore by most mainstream endocrinologists.

This study demonstrates that rT3 inversely correlates with physical performance scores and that the T3/rT3 ratio is currently the best indicator of tissue levels of thyroid (5).

It’s important if you are suffering from hair loss that you receive a full thyroid panel (not just TSH and T4) including thyroid antibodies, free and total fractions of T4/T3, reverse T3, and T3 uptake.

Having a complete lab panel will allow your Functional Medicine Doctor more information to assess your overall thyroid function and provide a plan that will provide a lasting solution.

Do You Have An Autoimmune Thyroid? Over 5% of the population has an autoimmune thyroid disorder and conventional medicine is ill equipped to address it.

Did you know most mainstream MD’s don’t measure thyroid antibodies? The reason is, it doesn’t change the medication they would put you on in the first place. Being a holistic physician, knowing a patient has an auto-immune thyroid disease can make all the difference in the world in helping the patient get better.

What You Can Do To Assess Thyroid Function Measuring body temperature is an excellent indicator of thyroid function. It can help assess your thyroid function without lab testing and can be an early indicator that you may have a thyroid problem. I always recommend combining thyroid temperature testing along with a comprehensive thyroid lab panel.

What If My Thyroid Tests Are Normal?

Most patients never get a comprehensive thyroid test to being with. When the are told they are normal it’s usually their Doctor letting them know their TSH is out of the pathological range >4.5. Below is an example of lab work looks to most Doctors.

It’s important to note that 95% of the population comprise the so called “Normal” range. Just go look around and you’ll be hard pressed to find 95% of people you know with normal health. As the population gets sicker, the references get wider, decreasing the chance of conventional labs picking up on your thyroid condition.

Functional Medicine Doctors look at thyroid tests on a functional spectrum of thyroid health. This allows more patient’s with thyroid issues to be detected and not slip through the cracks like they would in the conventional medical world.

It’s possible to have a normal thyroid blood test and still have a low body temperature. It’s always best to look at both temperature, thyroid function and adrenal functional when addressing harder thyroid cases.

Adequate body temperature ranges between: -97.8-98.2 degrees for the axillary area (armpit). -98.2-98.6 degrees for the oral area (mouth).

Healthy thyroid temperature shouldn’t vary more than 0.3 degrees per day. If you see a variance of great than 0.3 degrees per day, this is a sign of adrenal stress. Adrenal fatigue can also contribute to thyroid dysfunction.

Some individuals may need small amounts of natural thyroid hormone to jump start their system, others may need a more comprehensive approach that looks at addressing the adrenal glands and the nutrients required for healthy T4 to T3 conversion. Either way I strongly urge anyone in this situation to get a comprehensive assessment to figure out which approach is best.

From a functional medicine paradigm it’s important to know if you are auto-immune because it changes the overall approach to how the thyroid is treated. Any time any auto-immune condition is present the focus needs to more on the immune system and the gut and less on the thyroid or injured gland.

Most Important Lab Tests

TSH: Pituitary hormones that signals the thyroid to make T4, a poor marker of thyroid status unless elevated. Total T4: 98% of T4 thyroid hormone that is inactive and protein bound. Free T4: 2% of  T4 thyroid hormone that is active and freely bound. Total T3: 98% of T3 thyroid hormone that is inactive and protein bound. Free T3: 2% of T3  thyroid hormone that is active and freely bound. Reverse T3: Sign of a stressed physiology and a slower metabolism. Thyroglobulin:  Increases with BCP’s (birth control pills) and higher levels of estrogen, decreases with elevation in testosterone like in PCOS. T3 Uptake: How much active thyroid hormone is taken up by the receptor site. Elevated upate can be a sign of higher levels of testosterone commonly cause by PCOS (Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome) in females. Low uptake can be caused by elevations in estrogen primarily seen by BCP’s. TPO Antibody: 70% of auto-immune patients are positive for TPO. TBG Antibody: Less likely positive but should still be tested to rule out auto-immunity. TSI Antibody/Thyrotropin receptor antibodies: Auto-immune condition that causes hyperthyroidism or Graves Disease.

Thank you - Guest Post:  Dr. Justin Marchegiani

Learn more about your thyroid, immunity, and getting to the root - here!

90% of all food allergies are caused by 8 common foods! Do you have these symptoms?

Eight common foods are causing 90 percent of all food allergies! Do you have any of these symptoms?

This may surprise you, but eight common foods – milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, soy, wheat and shellfish – cause 90 percent of all food allergies. Chances are, half of those items make common appearances in your daily diet. They could, however, be jacking up your cortisol, decreasing your immune strength, and keeping you from achieving your wellness (and weight loss!) goals.

Allergies versus intolerances While the cause of true food allergies – the kind that produces severe or anaphalatic reactions — involve IgE antibodies in the immune system, food intolerances can arise when we consume the same foods day after day with little variety. This dietary stagnation causes the body to become “sensitized” to the food. In common parlance, the terms “allergy,” “sensitivity” and “food intolerance” are often used interchangeably, but sensitivities and intolerances are not true IgE allergies.

Food sensitivities or intolerances usually involve a different set of immune system antibodies called IgG antibodies. Symptoms are less intense and typically do not appear immediately, but rather within 12–48 hours, after eating the offending foodstuff. Heartburn, headaches, difficulty getting out of bed in the morning, looking tired even after sufficient sleep, an inability to lose weight, bloating and relentless water retention can all be related to food sensitivities or intolerances.

Because the connection between the symptom and a specific food can be difficult to pinpoint, those who suffer these discomforts often go on feeling worse and worse as their immune system takes a constant beating.

Many of us with food sensitivities don’t even realize how bad we feel until the problematic foods are removed from our diet. Then suddenly getting out of bed becomes easier, our energy, mood and concentration improve and joint pain, headaches and sinus congestion disappear. Here’s a handy chart on common symptoms associated with food sensitivities. You may be nodding your head to more than a few of these side effects:

Symptoms commonly associated with food intolerances/sensitivities

Digestive: Gas Bloating Abdominal cramping Loose stools Indigestion or heartburn Constipation GERD (reflux) Blood in the stool Lactose intolerance Inflammatory bowel disease Irritable bowel Syndrome

Skin: Eczema Psoriasis Acne Hives

Mental/Emotional: Irritability Anxiety Depression Food cravings Insomnia

General: Joint pain or stiffness Arthritis (rheumatoid) Fatigue Difficulty getting out of bed in the morning Headaches Migraines Malaise Weight gain Water retention Puffy eyes Dark under-eye circles High blood pressure Cellulite Difficulty losing weight

Nasal/Immune system: Sinus congestion Ear congestion Post-nasal drip Seasonal allergies Hay fever Asthma Chronic ear infections Itching in the ears Itchy mouth Runny nose Watery eyes Sneezing

Identifying your trigger foods To get to the bottom of your symptoms, I recommend that you do a 14-day elimination diet where you remove the most common food allergens from your diet to give your body a break, alleviate stress off your immune system, and detox overall. Slowly re-introducing each food after a 14-day break can allow you to connect particular symptoms with your food choices.

All that experimenting with different foods may sound like a major inconvenience, but the results can be invaluable. I recall one patient who had suffered with headaches for 20 years – they were gone after just two weeks of avoiding wheat. Another woman had bleeding from the bowel for two years – it was gone after one week on a dairy-free diet.

Uncovering food sensitivities is a powerful process to explore. But what you do with the information you gain is up to you. Once you’ve determined the effects of particular foods on your health, you have to decide whether or not you want to continue eating them.

Check out Dr. Oz's Elimination Diet HERE!

Plan B for determining your food allergies If you don’t want to do a 14-day elimination diet you can consider IgG food allergy testing. Although I encourage you to go through the process of food elimination and reintroduction because it’s so effective, you can choose to have a blood test to identify your IgG food allergies instead. This test identifies the presence of IgG antibodies to certain foods. Positive results to certain foods should be followed with the removal of those foods from your diet for a period of two to six months.

Guest Post:  Natasha Turner, N.D., is a naturopathic doctor

The "Connect 4" to Hormone Havoc that Causes Hair Loss

Many of our guests (salon family)  are fast paced - multitasking -super women!    Naturally, this brings on excess stress, fatigue and hormonal challenges over a period of time. Common first experiences of hair loss is after giving birth.  Years later women reach menopause or other hormonal imbalances, and all not uncommon for women to start losing hair. And while hair loss is a normal process  -  it’s also something that can be remedied by addressing underlying health and hormonal problems.

I appreciate the recent post shared by Dr. Sara Gottfried MD.  You may know of her most recent book "The Hormone Cure."   Sara understands the fundamentals of functional medicine and how it relates to women's health and hormones - inside out.  Enjoy the quick read and thank you, Sara!

4 Hormone Horrors that Cause Hair Loss

If hormones can zap your energy and steal your sex drive, it’s probably no surprise that they can also turn your tresses into a mess. Here are just a few ways that hormonal issues can cause hair loss:

1. Excess Estrogen.

Estrogen, the power player in women’s bodies, is your friend when it’s appropriately balanced. It makes you feel energized, helps stabilize your moods and contributes to a healthy sex drive. Yet too much estrogen, which can be caused by weight gain, perimenopause or toxicity from exposure to endocrine disruptors (which are rampant in our food, water and plastic products), can lead to thinning hair. During and after pregnancy, for example, estrogen levels peak and then dip, causing sudden hair loss for many women.

2. Insulin Issues.

Insulin, that helper hormone in charge of regulating blood sugar levels, also affects a number of different body processes, including fat storage, heart health and, you guessed it, hair growth. One study published in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Risk found that women with some markers of insulin resistance have a greater risk for androgenic alopecia (AGA), or female pattern baldness.

3. Tricky Testosterone.

In men, testosterone is associated with being big, burly and hairy. But too much testosterone in women creates all sorts of unpleasant results. Namely, it can cause hair growth on the face, neck or chest, and hair loss on your head. Not pretty.

4. Thyroid Woes.

Your body is an intelligent system. So when it’s under stress due to hormonal imbalances, like fluctuating thyroid levels, it redirects energy used for noncritical processes (hair growth) to more important matters at hand (balancing your hormones). Low thyroid is often the cause of that thinning scalp some women get as they age.

3 Ways to Maintain your Mane               

If you’re tired of yanking out gobs of hair from the bathroom drain or piling on products to pump up your ponytail, here are three strategies that have helped many of my patients address the root cause of hair loss:  

1. Get tested.

Because there are a number of different factors that can contribute to hair loss, it’s best to ask your doctor for a few different tests. I recommend checking: fasting glucose, iron levels and complete blood count (which can determine if you have anemia), as well as thyroid, estrogen and testosterone levels. These assessments should give you a better understanding of what hormonal issues may be at the root of your problem.

2. Eat clean.

Incorporating more fiber into your diet will help to lower estrogen levels through the process of “elimination” (i.e., excess estrogen will come out in the wash). Focusing on a high-protein,

low-carbohydrate diet with lots of veggies will improve insulin resistance that may be contributing to hair loss.

3. Pop a quality multivitamin. 

Nutrients, or lack thereof, can affect hair growth, too. Vitamin A helps fat synthesis in hair follicles, encouraging growth; vitamin E helps protect your hair cells from damage; and B vitamins also help to restore hair thickness and shine. Vitamin C and zinc also help to repair cellular damage from the inside out, which makes for a healthy mane.

Unfortunately, there’s no magic solution, pill or product that will correct hair loss entirely. But if you think of your hormones as a cast of characters, knowing which ones are leading the show and which ones are only playing a supporting role can help you get to the bottom of the issue.  Manage your stress levels and get enough sleep. This will help with general hormone balance and can protect your precious locks from any further damage.

Find Sara's article here!

A missing link! Vitamin K2 and your Skin + Bone Health!

Vitamin K2 and it's amazing role in our 'Beautiful Health" both internal and external.

New evidence has confirmed that vitamin K2′s role in the body extends far beyond blood clotting to include protecting us from heart disease, ensuring healthy skin, forming strong bones, promoting brain function, supporting growth and development and helping to prevent cancer – to name a few. In fact, vitamin K2 has so many functions not associated with vitamin K1 that many researchers insist that K1 and K2 are best seen as two different vitamins entirely.

Vitamin K2′s role in the body includes protecting us from heart disease, forming strong bones, promoting brain function, supporting growth and development and helping to prevent cancer – to name a few. It performs these functions by helping to deposit calcium in appropriate locations, such as in the bones and teeth, and prevent it from depositing in locations where it does not belong, such as the soft tissues. One of the health benefits of vitamin K2 not often discussed is its role in ensuring healthy skin, and this vitamin is likely beneficial for preventing wrinkling and premature aging.

Adequate dietary vitamin K2 prevents calcification of our skin’s elastin, the protein that gives skin the ability to spring back, smoothing out lines and wrinkles.  This is because K2 is necessary for activation of matrix proteins that inhibit calcium from being deposited in elastin fibers and keeping these fibers from hardening and causing wrinkles. In fact, recent research suggests that people who cannot metabolize vitamin K end up with severe premature skin wrinkling.   Vitamin K2 is also necessary for the proper functioning of vitamin A- and D- dependent proteins. As I discussed in the first article in this series, vitamin A is essential for proper skin cell proliferation, and cannot work properly if vitamin K2 is not available. Therefore, vitamin K2 is important in the treatment of acne, keratosis pillaris, and other skin symptoms of vitamin A deficiency.

It’s important to get adequate amounts of dietary vitamin K2, particularly if trying to heal the skin or prevent wrinkles.

Foods high in vitamin K2

• Natto

• Hard cheese

• Soft cheese

• Egg yolk

• Butter

• Chicken liver

• Salami

• Chicken breast

• Ground beef

It is important to note that commercial butter and other dairy products are not significantly high sources of vitamin K2, as most dairy cattle in our country are fed grains rather than grass. It is the grazing on vitamin K1-rich grasses that leads to high levels of vitamin K2 in the dairy products of animals, so be sure to look for grass-fed dairy products when trying to increase your intake of vitamin K2. (11)

A great all-around supplement for skin health is Green Pasture’s Fermented Cod Liver Oil and Butter Oil blend. It has a great mix of vitamins A, D, K2, and omega-3s in the proper ratios to help maximize skin health, especially in people with acne.

New research has expanded our understanding of the many important roles of vitamin K2.  Proof is being published at a rapid pace to bring clarity to one of the most poorly understood by medical authorities and the general public.

For more information on VK2 and how to source this supplementally, contact us at Kassie@kasiaorganicsalon.com. 

Guest Post Reference For more information on VK2 - head over to Chris's Blog: http://chriskresser.com/vitamin-k2-the-missing-nutrient

The Issue of Hair Color (tips to color as safely inside)

Everybody is greatly relieved when their hair grows back after chemotherapy. But its color and texture may be different than what you remember. Soft curls may require new products to manage them. Women who dyed their hair for years are often surprised by the amount of gray. It’s usually because the hair is just growing back in its natural, undyed state — which they may not have seen in a very long time!

About 75% of women in the United States use hair color. The practice goes at least as far back as ancient Egypt, when women used henna to change the color of their hair. It really moved into the mainstream culture in the 1920s and ’30s with the introduction of salon and home hair dye kits.

While you may not be quite certain what color your hair will be when you’re done, using a home kit is fairly easy. Or you can get it done at a salon, of course. Permanent hair dyes use a mix of prepackaged dye (usually your color plus ammonia) plus a “developer” (often hydrogen peroxide). When you massage the mixture into your hair, the developer reacts with the dye to open the hair cuticle (the protective outer covering of the hair shaft) and deposit color inside the hair. Other options include semi-permanent and temporary hair dyes, which stain hair without chemically changing the hair shaft, so they eventually wash out.

Concerns about chemicals

Each time you color your hair, you only absorb a small amount of dye into your system. But since hair coloring is a commitment that often involves repeated exposure over many years, you may be concerned about the potential long-term risk.

Questions about the safety of the chemicals used in hair dyes have been around almost as long as the hair dye kits themselves. It’s hard to accurately measure the risk. The coloring process uses a range of chemicals and each one could affect the body in a different way. There are differences in the quality and ingredients between brands and types of dyes. So it’s hard to test and compare them and come up with any meaningful results.

It’s also tough to make solid safety statements. In the 1970s, research linked chemicals in hair dyes to cancer when the dyes were tested on animals. So companies eliminated certain risky chemicals from the dye kits.

Concerns have persisted about the possible role of hair dye in cancer. But no clear link has ever been found between the personal use of hair dye and cancer in humans.

Most of today’s commercial hair dyes still contain some chemicals that may be considered risky. So far, research has revealed this much about how hair dyes affect our bodies:

• It’s important to be careful when applying the dye. Hair dyes can irritate skin and hurt eyes (if the product comes into direct contact with the eyes). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires that chemical hair dyes carry a warning about this skin irritation and the potential risk of blindness if used for dyeing the eyelashes or eyebrows.

• Many hair dyes contain coal tar, a mixture of chemicals derived from petroleum. Some people have been concerned that coal tar dyes increase the risk of cancer based on studies in small animals that were fed extremely high doses of coal tar. When coal tar dyes are applied to the skin — the more typical exposure we see in the hair dying process — there doesn’t appear to be a risk. Furthermore, studies of personal, at-home hair dye use in humans haven’t found any link to breast cancer.

• Some studies have found a slight increase in the risk for bladder cancer among salon workers exposed to hair dyes on a regular basis. No increased risk for bladder cancer has been found among people who have their hair dyed.

• Some studies have linked the personal use of hair dye with a very small increase in the risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and leukemia (cancers of the blood and bone marrow). The link was only in women who started dying their hair before 1980. Other studies have not found any link between hair dye use and these cancers.

• Lead acetate is found in “progressive” dyes, such as Grecian Formula, which change the color of hair gradually from light or gray to black. Although most of these products are marketed to men, everyone should avoid any hair products with lead acetate. The European Union has classified it as a known human reproductive toxicant, which means it interferes with fertility and may alter normal development and functioning of the reproductive system. The Environmental Protection Agency has classified it as a known human respiratory toxicant, which mean it can irritate the lungs. Studies also suggest that it may cause cancer in the kidneys, stomach, and lungs.

Tips to color as safely as possible

Based on what we know so far — and based on the potential risks — you may want to change the way you color your hair to minimize your risk of breast and other cancers. Here are a few ideas to minimize risk:

• Always follow the safety directions exactly. Do a patch test for allergic reactions every time before you color. Never dye your eyebrows or eyelashes, since getting dye in your eyes can irritate your eyes and possibly damage your vision.

• Limit your exposure as much as possible. Wear gloves when you apply the dye. Don’t leave it on your head any longer than the directions say. When the coloring time is up, rinse your scalp and hair thoroughly with water. Then shampoo out any residue.

• P-phenylenediamine (PPD) is one particular coal tar dye used in many hair dyes, and darker hair dyes tend to contain more of it than lighter ones. PPD is banned from hair dyes in several European countries because of its potential to cause severe skin irritation. If you wish to avoid it, check the ingredients list.

• Beware that brands marketed as “natural,” “organic,” or “non-toxic” may actually contain high-risk ingredients, although in smaller amounts. The same may be true for “no ammonia” or “no peroxide” products.

• Whether or not it’s safe to color your hair during pregnancy is a question lots of women ask. Your body probably absorbs only a very small amount of hair dye when it’s applied, so it’s likely that very little chemicals, if any, would be able to get to your baby. But to be absolutely safe and avoid the worry, some women forgo coloring their hair during pregnancy. Talk with your doctor if you have questions or concerns.

• If you dye your hair at home, choose a product with a low hazard rating in the EWG Database.

• If you get your hair colored at a salon, know that most salon-only products are not listed in the EWG Database. Since the FDA doesn’t require an ingredients list on products intended for salon-use only, there’s rarely any published information on what’s in them. One option to ask your hair colorist about is the  Mastey Color  hair dye, which has plant-based dyes that are FREE of PPD, petroleum-based ingredients, peroxide, ammonia, parabens, and phthalates.

Guest Post By Dr. Marisa Weiss

4 Healthy Hair Solutions to Reduce your Winter Hair Blues

I’ve had lots of clients in my chair recently expressing their frustration about their winter hair woe’s: dry scalp/hair, static, frizz, split ends and a general feeling of ‘ehh’ about their locks. Winter can be tough on your hair and you may need to change your tactics with the season.

 

Dry Scalp and Hair: We all know the cold air outside makes the hair dry and brittle, but don’t think you are escaping damage by hiding indoors; indoor heating can be just as damaging.

The fix: use a shampoo/conditioner with moisturizing properties such as shea or aloe. Up your conditioning treatments if you have thicker fuller hair and those with finer hair consider adding a lightweight leave in conditioner to your hair routine.

Check out our Replenish Shampoo/Conditioner and our aloe vera based Off the Fritz.

Split Ends:  Dry hair causes split ends and you want to nip them in the bud, so to speak. When the hair begins to split at the bottom it will keep splitting until you trim off those ends.

The fix: Call and book a haircut with your stylist now! I can’t express how important it is to keep up with your trims to maintain beautiful healthy looking hair.

Frizz/Fly-a-way: Without the moisture, you may find yourself with some seriously frizzy or fly-a-way hair – even without wearing hat.

The fix: Try our brilliant Outshine,  pure argan oil based smoothing gloss; it’s a winter must. For extra soft smooth finish, add to your conditioner or right before you blow dry, continue use as needed. Argan is lightweight which makes this a great product to “layer”.

Dull Color: We tend not to see as much of the sun in the winter and it can wash out your complexion.

The fix: An easy way to rid yourself of the winter hair blues is to refresh your shade or add a few sun-kissed highlights.

Give us a call at Kasia Organic Salon and see how our healthy hair experts can help cure your winter hair blues!  612.824.7611

Author:  Valerie, Kasia Hair Health Expert and Stylist